1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to apparatus for inserting an article into a bag, and more particularly, it concerns apparatus for inserting a relatively rigid and bulky article, such as a carton, into a flexible bag.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Bagging apparatus have been provided for inserting items such as sliced bread, rolls and other bakery goods into thermoplastic bags at relatively high production rates. One known type of bagging apparatus for packaging sliced bread loaves in thermosplastic bags includes a wicket holder which supports a stack of bags adjacent the side of a belt conveyor, an air injector for partially spreading the mouth of the top bag in the stack, a stop member which engages one end of a bread loaf, and a scoop assembly for first fully spreading the mouth of said top bag and thereafter pulling such bag over the bread loaf while the loaf is engaged against the stop member. The scoop assembly includes a pair of upper and lower guide members, or scoops as they are known in the packaging art, which scoops are concavely contoured to receive the top and bottom of the loaf. The scoops are mounted to a scoop drive assembly so that they may first be moved, while in a closely vertically spaced arrangement, into the partially opened mouth of a bag to an extent such that the leading ends of the scoops abut against the closed end of the bag and further yet so as to tear the bag from the portion thereof engaged by the wicket holder. After such insertion, the upper scoop is elevated by a cam-operated drive assembly to spread the bag mouth into a shape suitable for receiving the loaf. With the bag engaged on the scoops, the scoops are retracted to draw the lower and upper scoops respectively under and over the loaf while the loaf is held in place by the stop member so as to cause the loaf to slide into the bag on the lower scoop. The scoops are retracted to the extent that the bag, having the loaf therein, is pushed off the scoops.